Away from it all, hidden in the mountains of the Eastern Transvaal is a place you will never forget!

Oil painting by Ada Fagan:

A real place:

The secluded picnic spot is on the south side of the Mariepskop Mountain range, near Hoedspruit, Eastern Transvaal, South Africa. It’s on the other side of the mountains to Blyde Canyon, still in the nature reserve.

We went there years ago with our daughter, who was working and living in the area at the time. You supposed to go there with a 4x4, but we chanced it with an ordinary 4 seater sedan passenger car.

To get to the place you take the road coming up from the south, see the map below:

What we did there:

When we got to the picnic spot, we were the only ones there! Choosing a spot near the river, we changed into our costumes and walked along the edge of the river, upstream.

And then getting to that big rock in the middle of the river, you see in my oil painting, we got in on the left side. Our daughter said we were to cruise down the river on our tummies!

In our minds we were thinking, “Wow, what next!”

But not to worry, she knew what to do apparently. Because she said, she had been there before and knew what fun it is to surf on our tummies.

And we would be safe, as long as we didn’t take the deeper swifter current route!

She went first, to show us the way.

The river tide pushes you along and when you get to the more shallow areas, you get full of mud. A bit rough on your costume though, but great fun and laughter all the same.

And you land up in the deep pooled river water. Where a rope hangs over the river, for those who want to swing out over and fall in the much deeper water.

I didn’t try that, but imagined much braver younger souls doing that, like family and friends groups taking turns on the rope. And laughter and shouts of joy echoing and bouncing off the walls of the mountains.

Looking around us:

Were steep mountains, closing in on the river, as it came down and around the corner and out of view in Mariepskop Mountains. The place is so dramatic and beautiful it's spell bounding and breathtaking.

Sitting down to our picnic lunch, we felt so privileged to have been allowed into the reserve and the picnic spot.

With all the fun, the day simply passed away too quickly. It was with heavy hearts that we had to pack up at the end of the day and go home.

It’s such a fun place,

I hope you’ll someday l be able to go there too.